NASA is rapidly issuing lunar contracts across the commercial space industry using a streamlined procurement approach modeled after Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency tactics. During one seven-day period, the agency issued five lunar contract proposals.
The strategy employs two key mechanisms. NASA uses Broad Agency Announcements that request capabilities, such as lunar power generation, without prescribing exact solutions. It pairs this with a DARPA-style two-step process where companies first submit short white papers, then only develop detailed proposals for concepts NASA wants to pursue further. This reduces the time and resources companies spend on unsuccessful bids.
Carlos García-Galán, manager of the Moon Base Program, said during a news conference that the pace of solicitations is necessary to meet the program's timeline. Mike Gold, president of Redwire Space and former NASA associate administrator, called the procurement approach "unprecedented." He said NASA is reaching established contractors like Lockheed Martin, SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Northrop Grumman alongside newer startups including Impulse Space, ispace-US, Voyager Technologies, and Quantum Space.
NASA Administrator Jared Isaacman said the agency is repurposing funding from the shuttered Lunar Gateway program, which received $2.6 billion under the 2025 "One Big Beautiful Bill" act. Additional funding comes through the Commercial Lunar Payload Services Program. Isaacman noted individual contracts range around $200 million and can be adjusted within the program's approximate $25 billion annual budget without jeopardizing the entire effort.
The approach carries risk. NASA is contracting with companies whose hardware remains unproven or exists only as engineering designs. Isaacman framed this as necessary to accelerate the program amid competition with China.